Owner-Operators

Of key trucking interests on the table heading into the conference committee are potential inclusions of size and weight changes and, perhaps more pressing for owner-operators, fixing language in the bill that could potentially create havoc for about 450,000 carriers, many of them small fleets and owner-operators.

A federal judge in a U.S. District Court in Massachusetts ruled against truck operators earlier this month in two separate but related lawsuits challenging their status as independent contractors and alleging their carriers violated state wage theft laws.

Nearly 50,000 of the 75,000 port truckers in the U.S. are misclassified as independent contractors, according to a recent report, which says the misclassification costs federal and state governments significant tax losses.

The new DOT chief, Anthony Fox, to his credit announced a proposed rule this week that would eliminate the requirement for filing a Driver Vehicle Inspection Report when no defects are found with truck or trailer. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration says no-defect DVIRs account for 95 percent of the filings.
Anything that reduces red tape in trucking is a good thing. This same step was taken last year with a comparable requirement for truck ...